The Minnesota Vikings Offense is Boasting an Unusual Amount of Pizzazz
The Vikings offense is coming off a strong, not stellar, season.
Sam Darnold had been a disappointment since getting scooped up at No. 3 in the 2018 NFL Draft. In Minnesota, Darnold was a great option, someone who completed a career-best 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. Losing the former highly-picked passer, though, hasn’t changed something fundamental about the Vikings offense: the abundance of 1st-Round talent.
The Vikings Offense & The 1st-Round Talent
True, J.J. McCarthy can’t match his predecessor in a perfect manner when it comes to draft prestige, but we’re still talking about a top-ten pick.
McCarthy led his Wolverines to a championship in his final college season. He then went No. 10 to the Vikings, earning the distinction of being the highest-picked passer in franchise history (as many have pointed out). He’s well setup to succeed — again, as so many have pointed out — due to the abundance of talent around him.
Consider, for instance, just the main pass catchers. WR1 Justin Jefferson got picked at No. 22, WR2 Jordan Addison got picked at No. 23, and T.J. Hockenson got picked at No. 8. Not a bad trio, right?
Consider who else is helping out. Names in bold belong to guys who were scooped up in the draft’s highest round. Look at one formulation of the Vikings’ starting offense:
| Christian Darrisaw | Donovan Jackson | Ryan Kelly | Will Fries | Brian O’Neill |
| J.J. McCarthy | ||||
| Justin Jefferson | Jordan Addison | T.J. Hockenson | Jalen Nailor | |
| Aaron Jones |
Of the eleven players considered above, seven arrived courtesy of the opening round. Being anything other than a 1st-Round selection makes one a bit unusual in Minnesota. The tight end — Mr. Hockenson — represents the highest picked player. The left guard — the much-hyped Jackson — is the lowest picked player among the 1st-Round talent.
Worth noting, as well, some of the nuance standing behind the simple observation about the abundance of 1st-Round talent. Kelly arrives after being a Colts 1st-Round selection. Hockenson went in the 1st to the Lions before becoming a Vikings trade pickup. Jefferson and Darrisaw were picked in the 1st by Rick Spielman. McCarthy, Addison, and Jackson got to the Twin Cities after Kwesi Adofo-Mensah snagged them from the 1st.
So, we’re talking about the same round but quite a few different avenues toward accumulating those 1st-Round talents in Minnesota.
On the other end of the spectrum is someone like Mr. Fries, who nearly slipped out of the draft entirely since he was picked at No. 248 (but who is now working for major money, a whopping $88ish million over five seasons).
Aaron Jones got snagged in the 5th and Jalen Nailor in the 6th. Those three — Jones, Nailor, and Fries — stand out for being late-round selections. Brian O’Neill was picked up in the 2nd, at No. 62 overall.
In 2024, Kevin O’Connell got his Vikings up to 9th overall in the NFL by averaging 25.4 points per game. The downside, however, is that the group fell flat in consecutive weeks: Week 18 and the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. The pair of defeats involved just 9 points per game, the lone times all season that Minnesota was corralled to single-digit points.
The goal, then, is not just to see season-long improvement, but improvement at the most crucial times in the season. Even better, of course, will be if the Vikings get some sizzling offense after the season, pushing deep into the playoffs for the first time with O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah leading things.
All of that high-end talent is supposed to be crucial in accomplishing these goals.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.
